Happy Father's Day

Wishing a Happy Father's Day to all the great dads today! 

To my dad, Davey Boy, who is surely the most fun loving, wittiest & kind person on this earth. Harper is lucky to call you her grandpa. 

But she'll probably just call you Davey Boy.

And to my husband.

 Cheers to the most loving & selfless guy in the world.

To the guy who willingly spends his Saturday afternoon at the mall with us, always picks up cupcakes on his way home from running errands & happily puts Harper's shoes on her when she hands them to him fifteen times a day, only to watch her take them off two seconds later. He is a sucker for pigtails & never turns down a piece of chewed up food that Harper feeds him.

There isn't a thing he wouldn't do for his girls & he is sure to let us know it every day. 

You are the best dad that any little girl could ask for.

 We wouldn't trade you, your hot sauce addiction, off-key singing & inappropriate humor for anything in the world.

We are the luckiest ladies around.

 

 Happy Father's Day, babe! You are the sweetest. The coolest. The most fun.
And you really are one HOT dad!! 

Mama + Mini Fourth of July Style

To me, not having a 4th of July flavored swimsuit is like not having a Christmas tree. I have always been on the hunt for a perfectly festive bikini for the weekend of the Fourth. Finally this year, I feel like I've hit the jackpot. Not just for me, but for Harper as well. 

Get a load of this red, white & CUTE!

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

 I am obsessed with J.Crew suits, the material & fit are so amazing. They run large, if you haven't bought their suits before, I would definitely go a size smaller than what you would normally order. Especially kids stuff, Harper has been waring Crewcuts 2T stuff for months! :)

Here is our gear. Seriously, fireworks go off in my head when I look at this. I cannot wait to wear these while doing sparklers & eating bomb pops like it is our JOB.

 Striped Top | Ruffle Bottoms | Floral Swimsuit

To make things even more fun (because I am an extreme coupon-coder) today GAP is having 30% off your entire purchase with coupon code GAPSALE & J.Crew is having 30% off sale items (which ALL of these swimsuits are!) with coupon code SUMMERTIME. They are all selling out so fast!

I don't know if it's just because I am a compulsive swimsuit shopping addict & maybe I feel the need to drag you down with me? If so, I really apologize in advance.

Love List: Sweet Summertime

It is feeling very summery here in Hotlanta, where the temps are rising & mosquitoes are trying to eat us alive. We are trying to plan lots of summer fun before this carefree season slips away from us. 

You may have already caught a glimpse of Harper going to town on this watermelon slice, but there is plenty more where that came from! I've never seen a kid love something so much. She ate this piece of watermelon all the way down to the rind & cried her little eyes out when I took it away. It was a hot ass mess & landed us both in the bath tub, but well worth it for these priceless pictures.

Headband

Seriously, look at the watermelon juice dripping down her juicy little arm rolls. I can't even.

And yes, she had to squat down every time she took a big bite.

 

 Aside from watermelon on a stick, here are a few things that are currently making me feel summery! We'll call it the Summery Seven! :)

1. Baseball Tees. I love wearing them with cutoffs or even over my swimsuit. Loving this VS lace one & these super comfy ones with lots of color options.

2. Fresh fruit. Our grocery stores have had the most delicious fresh fruit lately & we can't get enough! Each week after I grocery shop, I wash all of our fruit, cut what needs cut & mix some of it together in a big container. This makes for super easy snacks & sides for all of Harper's meals. I swear she loves colorful food too, so the more the merrier! Our favorites are strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, peaches, raspberries, kiwi & mango.

3. Good summer music playlists. I love having music at my fingertips for every activity, including pool, working out & even cooking breakfast on Sunday mornings. Most of these contain lots of old & new country with a little bit of Bob Marley, all very summery! :)

4. Iced Passion Fruit Tea from Starbucks. I order half black tea, half passion tea, iced with no sweetener. It is so refreshing! I used to drink this when I was pregnant too because there is no caffeine in passion fruit tea! YUM.

5. Maxi Dresses. Currently loving this ombre maxi & these colorful pleated maxi skirts that can be worn dressed up with a tank & jewelry or dressed down with a white v-neck tee.

6. Having a tan! While I do love to get a little sun, I am definitely pro-sunscreen, so I sometimes have to improvise. I use L'Oreal Sublime Bronze for instant color & Jergens Natural Glow Firming Lotion as an everyday gradual lotion. Don't worry, they fixed the smell!! :)

7. Homemade popsicles. I really wanted to get a Zoku, but opted for Norpro Ice Pop Maker instead. So far, I LOVE IT. I made these popsicles using lemonade & strawberries, they were a big hit! I am excited make up some fun recipes with it!

Sorry about the chippy nailpolish. (My BFF Whitney is cringing at this right now, I just know it) However, this is one of my favorite nail polishes of all time, Rimmel Steel Gray. It's the perfect charcoal/taupe/purple color that feels Fall-ish, but is light enough to rock in the summer! :)

If you want even more summer inspiration, you can follow my Sweet Summertime board on Pinterest, which will surely make you want to escape to the beach & sip on something with an umbrella in it right away. 

 Hope you all are enjoying the first few weeks of summer as much as we are, before the heat starts ruining it for all of us!

Bloody Mary Bar

 This weekend we really wanted to show my brother a good time, help make the transition out of college a little easier & to introduce him to all of our friends in Georgia. So, naturally, we hosted a Bloody Mary Bar & Brunch in our backyard.

I'm actually not a huge Bloody Mary fan but it's my brother's favorite drink, PLUS I love the fact that you can really get out of control with garnishes. If restaurants can put a beefstick in theirs, I felt like I could push it a little further & put an entire corn dog in ours. We added celery, pickles, bacon, olives & grilled cheese kabobs to the menu, along with an assortment of hot sauces & peppers.

We also rimmed them with crushed Fritos instead of salt. Bet ya can't guess who's idea that was. :)

 

The bigger the glasses, the better. I would honestly have put an entire rotisserie chicken in this cocktail if it would have fit.

I know this is totally not baby-blog-material, but it is festive & would make a fun Father's Day brunch idea if your dad or hubby is a Bloody Mary fan! :)

And of course, this chalkboard print is for sale in my etsy shop.

Sources

Glasses & Pitcher from Pier One (out of stock) | Ice Bucket | Tomato Juice Pitcher | Striped Straws | Mason Jars | White Beaded Bowls

Father's Day Gifts

Dad's Day is just around the corner, and as promised, I am here to share some of my ideas for gifts. My husband has dominated fatherhood so I plan on going all out with a full on breakfast celebration & a few fun gifts. You know I love any excuse to celebrate!

Folding Charcoal Grill | Beer Can Holders | Dollar Shave Club

Diaper Dude | ENO Hammock | Leather Magic Wallet

But, you know I can't handle gifting without trying to coordinate it with some festive extravaganza. So here are my ideas to go with each of these gifts.
The Folding Charcoal Grill obviously calls for a picnic with a hot dog or burger bar of sorts, toppings to include shredded cheeses, potato chips & chili.
The Beer Can Holders would be gifted with a mix-and-match six pack, which you can find at your local market or liquor store & probably an afternoon of yard games to show how useful they are. It took me point-five-seconds to snatch these up when I saw them, obviously they are hammock farm material. But I'm a jackass & couldn't wait until Father's Day to bust them out.
Dollar Shave Club, if you haven't already caught wind of my obsession, is the most perfect gift. I love good marketing & these guys blow my mind (if you haven't watched the videos on their website, you must). My husband & I both have memberships, their razors & shave cream are amazing, especially for sensitive skin.
The Diaper Dude is the perfect gift for all of the new & expectant dads. You can fill it with all the must haves & if you are sarcastic like me, make notes on each item about what they should be used for. Example: Baby wipes are for diaper changes, not for eating hot wings.
ENO Hammock. Ok I won't even go here, you know how much I love them. And camping themed fun like s'mores or a trail mix bar would accompany a hammock perfectly.
The Leather Magic Wallet is a perfect gift because one. what guy doesn't love getting a new wallet and two. you can fill them with lots of goodies like photos, gift cards & homemade coupons. I'll leave the details of the homemade coupons up to you ;)

If all else fails, take some pictures of your kiddos that the hub hasn't seen before & get them framed! A few tricks.
For a cute shot of leg rolls, toes or any other tiny detail of your little babe, hand them a phone or ipod that plays music & then snap away with your camera. You can get pretty awesome shots when they are totally entertained holding a phone! :) You can also sneak in on them while they're sleeping, just be sure that you leave the blinds open during their nap so you get good natural light. Also, don't forget about all the great props you can include in pictures, like books, stuffed animals, blocks, or a framed piece of paper that says "Happy Father's Day!".

Headband

A picture of your child with their favorite book each year would be the perfect memento to give as a gift or save for yourself! ;) And be sure to serve all framed photos with a side of pancake wrapped sausages on a stick.

The manliest blog post of all time.

BIG NEWS.
No not another baby, but close, a new member of the Garvin household.

My brother, Zach Morris, has officially moved in with us for a few weeks!! He is a total badass, just graduated with a 4.0 from the U of M with a degree in physiology & turned twenty two yesterday. He moved from snowy Minnesota to Atlanta & we couldn't be more excited! If you want some random wittiness in your life, you can find him on twitter here, and yes, his nickname from me is Thackary Binx. To celebrate his arrival, we threw him a little birthday bash, which I thought would be fun to share since it could totally work as a Father's Day celebration idea as well
Welcome to the ATL little bro!!! PS. Can you babysit tomorrow? :)

You know that my number one gift suggestion for Father's Day would be a hammock. We bought these ENO Double Hammocks that are made for camping, so they are extra comfortable & fold up into a tiny little bag. This sends me into camping theme overload, hence the s'mores & other goodies.

 Hammocks | String Lights | Cake Stand

The S'mores Cupcakes, which you may have seen already if you follow me on Instagram (@jlgarvin), were just yellow cake from a box with homemade chocolate frosting, recipe found here. I took a couple graham crackers & crushed them up for the topping. To rim them this way, all you do is put the crumbs (or sprinkles) in a small bowl, take your freshly frosted cupcake & dip the edges in the bowl. Super easy. Then I just made some kraft paper flags, stuck a marshmallow on a lollipop stick & added a piece of Hershey's chocolate. Fun & festive, just the way I like it! :)

You can make cupcakes like this with ANYTHING. Cereal, candy bars or even bacon would all be totally acceptable toppings for the occasion.

For gifts, I got my brother some coffee (he will need it since he has to keep up with Harper now), these badass Steel Camping Mugs & some Dollar Shave Club Shave Butter. All of which would make perfect father's day gifts, especially for the manly man! :)

Another great Father's Day gift? A Cast Iron Bottle Opener that can be bolted to a tree, workbench or even your kitchen counter! The one pictured below is from etsy, but actually doesn't work as well as we hoped. We have had this one in our kitchen since we moved in & ordered another one to switch out for outside as well.

This entire party stemmed from my brother's (and my husband's) obsession with axes, like the one pictured below from Best Made Co. This also inspired my most recent chalkboard print, which I love for Father's Day as well! (Use Coupon Code 30OFFCHALK for 30% off!) Doesn't get much more manly than this.

Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice. Well said, Henry Ford! :)

Don't you feel like a man after reading this? I feel like this post should have a beard.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Father's Day Gifting!

Weekend Recap

We had the most fun weekend with some of our favorite people in the whole world, my best friend since third grade & her family came to visit us from Iowa! You may remember her son, Harper's future husband, who has made a few appearances on the blog. Isn't he the cutest little dude!? We spent the weekend at the pool, eating lots of good food, playing in the yard (water balloons included) & of course, realizing how much harder it is to have two kids instead of one!

My Bikini | Harper's Swimsuit

 And you all know that I can't have guests without putting together some sort of fun breakfast. We went with a waffle bar with lots of yummy toppings.

White Beaded Bowls | Syrup Dispenser | Powdered Sugar Shaker

Award for the most unique waffle topping goes to my husband, who loaded it up with crunchy peanut butter, banana slices & syrup.

 This is the one picture that I got of us together, where we actually had margaritas in our hands instead of babies or diaper bags!

For those of you getting used to seeing all of Harper's smiles, have no fear. The mean mug has returned! :)

 Striped Maxi | Magenta One Piece Romper | Hairbow

  

 We also took a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. The kiddos loved seeing the fish but their attention spans were totally not made for that crazy crowd. Watching Finding Nemo on the couch at home would probably have been much less of a headache.

  Bow Dress | Stroller

And we ended our weekend with a much needed Target trip & an ice cream date. Harper was mesmerized by some balloons in the parking lot but I was dying over her always wanting to wear her sunglasses on her head now! ;)

My Dress | Harper's Dress

Hope you all had an awesome weekend as well & got to enjoy some beautiful weather!

PS. Thank you all so so much for the sweet comments on Harper's 15 Month photos! Reading your messages made my day... and our photographer's too!! :) XOXO